1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improvement in or relating to anchors, and particularly to an improved anchor retrieving device to be attached to a main anchoring line to retrieve an anchor when it becomes snagged at the bottom of a body of water, for example, seized by roots or ledges of rocks or submerged timbers or like.
2. Related Art Statement
It might often arise a case where an anchor becomes snagged by roots, rocks or like to make it impossible to raise the anchor to the boat or ship. In order to release the anchor and to bring the same in condition for easy raising, I have previously proposed an anchor arrangement. The anchor arrangement according to my previous proposal, comprises a flexible rope having a free end, retaining device for detachably retaining the free end of the rope and being attached to the rope and normally held at a position separated from the free end of the rope by a certain distance, an anchor attached to the rope and having a shank and at least one grasping means (fluke in one embodiment) extending backwardly from one end of the shank for grasping a rock at the bottom of a body of water. The shank of the anchor is attached to the rope so that the one end formed with the fluke is positioned remoter from the free end of the rope. The arrangement further comprises means for opening the retaining device so that the free end of the rope is released therefrom in readiness for the anchor raising operation, upon impingement or striking by a weight.
The anchor arrangement of my prior proposal is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 115232/1985 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 275085/1986, U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,054 and European Patent No. 0206530B1). This is also disclosed in my co-pending Japanese Patent Appln. No. 173924/1986 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 31892/1988). The specification of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,054 will be incorporated herein as a reference.
A similar anchor retrieving device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,126 and European Patent Publication No. 0297703A which were filed while claiming a convention Priority based on Japanese Patent Appln. No. 151368/1987 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 315395/1988) and matured to patents.
The anchor retrieving device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,126 comprises a lock assembly having a releaseable hook member having one end normally locked by the lock assembly and the other end normally housed in the lock assembly at a position adjacent to the lower end of the lock assembly, the other end being connected through a connection line to the end of the shank opposite to the crown end. The crown end of the shank is connected through an anchor-retrieving line to the housing of the lock assembly. In the normal anchoring position, the anchoring power is transmitted from the end of the shank opposite to the crown end through the connection line and the releaseable hook member to the main anchoring line; and when it is desired to retrieve the anchor from the snagged condition, the lock assembly is struck by a weight to release the releaseable hook member from the lock assembly to disconnect the connection line so that the anchor is raised by the anchor-retrieving line connected between the lower end of the lock assembly and the crown end of the shank. The specification of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,126 will be incorporated herein as a reference.
However, the anchor retrieving device of my prior proposal has a disadvantage that two lines, namely the connection line and the anchor-retrieving line, must be provided in addition to the main anchoring line to complicate the assembling operation, since these lines must be connected at respective connection points. It has a further disadvantage that the member struck by the weight is an upper crossing member which has a general shape of a balance having arms protruding to be struck simultaneously by the weight. The construction and assembly thereof is rather complicated to reduce the production efficiency of the entire device.